Audi poaches technical guru Mertens from Volvo

Audi has announced the appointment of Peter Mertens as its new technical development chief, luring the German from his position as senior vice president of research & development at Volvo Car.

Mertens will join former Volvo executive Thomas Mueller at the Ingolstadt-based automaker, with the latter set to assume the role of head of electrics and electronics at Audi.

The Volkswagen Group subsidiary lost its two previous technical bosses – Ulrich Hackenberg and Stefan Knirsch – in the fallout of the diesel emissions scandal.

Mertens has held positions at Mercedes-Benz, General Motors and Jaguar Land Rover, and joined Volvo Car in 2011.

Rupert Stadler, chairman of the board of management of Audi, praised Mertens as a specialist with an impressive breadth of experience.

“Mertens has exceptionally broad technical expertise and an international background in the automotive industry. These are ideal qualifications for him to make further progress with the technical development division at Audi,” said Stadler.

Related articles on

The outgoing head of Audi Sport has confirmed that Ingolstadt’s performance division has plans to expand its crossover range. Stephan Winkelmann, who will leave Audi Sport to head up Bugatti from th...

In November, ABT Sportsline announced a special tuning package for the latest RS3 Sportback and Sedan, taking the 2,5-litre turbocharged five-cylinder engine from the stock 294 kW to a tempting 339 kW...

The standard Audi RS3, with its staggering 294 kW output and claimed 0-100 km/h time of just 4,1 seconds (which we actually beat on our test strip in the sedan version), is plenty powerful. But the s...